Safety appliance for trains.



J. J. DEGENHARDT. SAFETY APPLIANCE FOR TRAINS.

2 SHEETS-SHEET L Patented Apr. 4, 1916.

APPLlCATlDN FILED FEB. 17. I915.

1.1. DEGENHARDT. SAFETY APPLIANCE FOR TRAINS.

APPLiCATlON FILED FEB. 17, 1915.

- railway signaling,

JOHN J. DEGENHARDT, OFELKVILLE, ILLINOIS.

SAFETY APPLIANCE FOR TRAINS v Application filed February 17, 1915. Serial No. 8,842.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN J. DEGENHARDT,

' fication.

My present invention relates to new and useful improvements in safety appliances for railways and more particularly to attachments for trains adapted to be actuated by danger signals positioned along the track upon the trains running past one'ormore signals set in danger position, the primary object of my invention being the provision of an appliance of the above described character which shall be operated in two separate and distinct phases, the first actuation of the mechanism closing the throttle valve of the locomotive and the second applying the brakes of the train.

A further, object of my invention consists in the provision of a safety appliance which may be actuated by any suitable trip disposed adjacent the track, being particularly adapted to be actuated by means of semaphore arms such as are now employed in thereby avoiding the necessity of providing additional track mechanisms.

More specifically, my invention includes a double valve structure connected in the train line of the locomotive, or a branch therefrom, and adapted to be moved to partially open position upon engagement of the apparatus by one track obstacle to permit passage of air from the train pipe to apneumatically controlled throttle valve closing mechanism and to be further opened by engagement of its mechanism with a second track obstacle to vent the train line to the atmosphere and so apply the air brakes of the train. In this connection, I employ a reciprocating carriage which is operatively connected to the valve, an actuating member which is also reciprocally mounted and movable through engagement with a track trip to reciprocate the carriage in one direction, and a resetting device for releasing the car- Speciflcation of Letters Patent.

Patented Apr. 4, 1916.

riage and permitting it to move back to normal1 position after the appliance has operate One of the objects of my present invention consists in the provision of a novel means for releasing the throttle lever and closing. the throttle valve, such means being pneu matically operated and therefore controllable by the compressed air in thetra in line of the train.

Another object of my invention consists in the provision of means for automatically returning the actuating mechanism of the device to normal position as soon as it is disengaged from a track obstacle, together with .means for preventing return movement of the reciprocating carriage during return movement of the actuating member.

A still further object of my invention is to provide means for manually releasing and simultaneously returning the carriage to normal position after the train has been brought to a stop, thereby shutting off the flow of train pipe air to the atmosphere and thus preventing complete venting of the train pipe. .And a still further object of my invention consists in the rovision of visual or audible signal devices or indicating the fact that the throttle valve has been closed by the appliance and for indicating that the brakes have been applied, these signaling devices being electrically operated and their circuits being controlled by movement of the carriage.

"With these and other objects in view, my invention will be more fully described, illustrated in the accompanying drawings, and then specifically pointed out in the claims which are attached to and form a part of this application.

In the drawings: Figure 1 is a fragmentary sectional view of 'a locomotive cab, showing my invention applied thereto; Fig. 2 is a bottom plan view of the apparatus, the signaling system being shown diagrammatically; Fig. 3 is a side elevation partially in section, of the controlling valve of my present invention, together with the throttle valve closing mechanism; Fig. 4 is a fragthrough the side walls rigidly connected, upwardly extending trip,

portions of the reciprocating carriage, actuating member or bar and resetting device. Corresponding and like parts are referred to in the following description and indicated in all the views of the drawings by the same reference characters.

In the preferred embodiment of my invention, practically all of the operating mechanism is supported from a base 10 of any suitable material and design which, in turn, is supported upon the inner face of the cab roof 11. This base is provided at its rear end with bearings 12 to journal a rock shaft 13, the ends of which project of the cab and carry or obstacle engaging arms 14. These arms project in such a manner than any semaphore arms which may be disposed in danger position will project in their path and cause a partial turning of the shaft 13 upon passage of the locomotive. It Wlll of course be understood that I do not wish to limit myself to a rock shaft having arms positioned for engagement with semaphore arms as the shaft maybe so disposed and the arms so formed that, the latter may beengaged by any suitable track obstacle or trip.

The shaft 13, interiorly of the cab, is provided with a crank arm 15 extendingat right angles to the trip arms 14, of which there are two, one at either side of the cab, and pivotally connected to the free end of the crank arm is a link 16.. The opposite end of this link is pivotally connected to one end of an actuating member or bar 17. The supporting base 10 carries a plurality of spaced, depending brackets or guides 18,

the free ends of which are connected by a brace bar 19. These brackets, as best shown in Figat of the drawings, include spaced side portions 20 and 21 forming guides for the reciprocating portions of my safety mechanism, as will be later fully explained.

The. actuating bar 17 is reciprocally mounted between the spaced sides of two adjacent brackets and is normally held in advance position by means of a helical spring 22 connected at its ends by hooks 23 carried one by the base 10 and one by the 1ntermediate portion of the bar 17. It will, therefore, be seen that swinging movement of the trip arm 14 in either a clockwise or counterclockwise direction will cause rearward movement of the actuating bar 17. This bar 17 has its lower edge provided with a series of ratchet teeth 24:, adjacent its forward end and a second series of ratchet teeth 25 intermediate its length, the purpose of which will be later explained.

A carriage 26 is reciprocally'mounted 1n he brackets 18 adjacent the forward end of the base 10 and immediately below the actuating bar 17, the .rear end of the carriage being supported against downward movement by spaced stirrups 27 surrounding the lower end of the actuating member 17, the forward portion of the carriage being supported in a manner which will be later expla ned. The upper face of the carriage, which is preferably in the form of a metal or wooden bar, is cut-away at its rear port1on to form spaced seats 27 which underlie the series of ratchet teeth 24 and 25,, while the lower face of the carriage, preferably in advance of these seats, is provided with a series of ratchet teeth 28.

Pawls 29 are positioned in the seats 27 to engage one-with the ratchet teeth 24 and one with the ratchet teeth 25. Each of these pawls lncludes a U-shaped portion 30, the sides of which straddle the carriage, the pawls being pivotally connected to the carr age by pivot pins 31 passed through these side portions and. through the carriage. The free ends of the side portions project downwardly and relation to the under face of the carriage and a roller 32 is mounted for turning movement between the free ends of the arms of each carriage, the arrangement being such that upward pressure against the roller 32 Wlll swmg the tooth engaging terminal of the pawl out of engagement with the ratchet teeth. A pawl length between the sides of the intermediate bracket 18 with its upturned end in engagement with the ratchet teeth 28 of the carriage, being held in such engagement with a leaf spring 34. The opposite end of the pawl extends forwardly of the bracket and is provided with a downwardly bowed or curved terminal 35.

Reclprocally mounted between th; s ides of the brackets 18 and resting upon the brace 19 is a releasing and resetting member 36, also in the form of a bar, and provided at its rear end with a downwardly pro ecting handle 37. This resetting member, at its forward end, has its upper face, cut-away as shown at 38 to receive a helical spring 39, one end of which engages against the forward bracket 18 and the other end of which engages against the rear shoulder 40 formed by cutting away such member. This spring is held against displacement by a rod or pin 41 extended axiallv through the spring with its ends secured in the end shoulders of the member. It will of course be normally tends to hold the releasing and. resetting member in rearward position and such rearward movement of the releasing member is limited by a stop pin 42 carried by the releasing member and engageable with the intermediate bracket 18. A stirrup 43 is secured at its ends to the releasing member immediately at the rear of the .rearwardly in parallel spaced' 33 is pivoted intermediate its clear that this spring manner, the releasing spring 39 and slidably receives the carriage 26. In order to limit the forward movement of this carriage 26, a stop pin 44 is provided which engages the forward bracket 18, while to limit the rearward movement of the carriage, a second stop pin 45 is provided which engages the stirrup 43.

The releasing member 36 is provided in its upper face with a cut-away seat or recess 46 which receives the arcuate terminal 35 of the pawl 43 and which also provides an arcuate cam face, whereby forward movement of the releasing member will lift the arcuate terminal of the pawl to swing its opposite terminal out of engagement with the ratchet te th 28 of the carriage. In like member has its upper face cut-a ay to provide resultant cam portions 47 which, upon forward movement of the releasing member, engage the rollers 32 to swing the pawls 29 out of engagement with the ratchet teeth 24 and Secured to the base 10 in advance of the above described mechanism and in alinement with the carriage 26, is a valve casing 48 to which a branch pipe 49 from the train. line pipe of the locomotive leads. As best shown in Fig. 3 of the drawings, this casing includes a chamber 50 which, through communication with the train line, contains air at train line pressure, one wall of this chamber being finished to provide a seat 51 upon which a slide valve 52 reciprocates. This seat 51 is provided with longitudinally spaced ports 53 and 54, both of which, in one position of the valve, are closed and which may be successively opened by rearward movement of the valve. The valve is provided with a valve stem 55 which extends rearwardly through a stuffing box 56 formed in the valve casing and which is connected to the forward end of the carriage 26, thereby serving to support such end of the carriage. It will, therefore, be seen that rearward movement of the carriage will open one or both of the ports 53 and .54, depending upon the extent of such movement. The port 54 communicates either directly or through a pipe 57 with the atmosphere, while a pipe 58 leads from the port 53 to the throttle valve closing mechanism which will now be described.

Referring to Fig. 3 of the drawings, it.

will be seen that a link 59, one end of which is connected to the throttle valve, which is not shown, is slidably mounted in a tubular casing 60 which extends through the front wall of the cab and carries a bracket arm 61. A throttle lever 62 is pivoted at one end in the free end of the bracket arm 61 and the link 59 has its free end pivotally connected to an intermediate portion of the lever 62. The bracket 61 is also extended to form an arcuate rack 63 and thethrottle valve the carriage sufficient to open lever 62 carries a spring pressed locking pawl 64 which engages with the teeth of the rack 63 to hold the throttle valve lever, and consequently the throttle valve, in any desired position, this spring pressed pawl being manually releasableby a hand latch 65. The intermediate portion of the spring pressed pawl 64 is provided with an outwardly directed shoulder 66 which extends in the path of the laterally offset terminal 'or head 67 of a lever 68, the intermediate portion of which is pivoted to the bracket 61, the body portions of the levers 62 and 68 lying in a common plane, whereby swinging of one into engagement with the other may cause swinging of both. The head 67 of the lever 68 is provided with a cam face 69 adapted to engage the lug or shoulder 66 when the lever 68 is swung into engagement with the lever 62 to force the pawl 64 out of engagement with the rack teeth 63 and so permit swinging movement of the throttle lever 62.

Mounted upon the front Wall of the cab, is a cylinder 70 having a cylinder head 72 through which extends a tubular piston rod 73 carrying, at its inner end, a piston 7 4 and a solid piston rod 7 5 is slidably mounted in the tubular piston rod 73 and connected at its outer end to the free end of the lever 68. The pipe 58 leading from the valve 48 communicates with the inner end of the cylinder 70 and such end is also provided I with a relatively small leakage port 76 to permit any air admitted to the cylinder through the pipe 58 to gradually escape and so permit return movement of the piston 74.

In addition to the above described mechanism for closing the throttle valve of the locomotive and applying the air brakes of the train, I provide a signaling mechanism for indicating that such operations have been performed. This mechanism includes an arm 78 which is swingingly mounted intermediate its length upon the base 10 and one end of which is slotted, as shown at 79, in Fig. 2, to receive a pin 80 projecting from the carriage 26. The opposite end of the arm 78 carries a U-shaped contact member 81 having a binding post 82 in electrical connection with'both branches of the contact member. Under normal conditions, the branches of the contact member 81 are disposed one at either side of a fixed contact 83, one branch being movable into engagement with such fixed contact upon movement of p the port 53 and being further movable out of engagement with such contact upon movement of the carriage suflicient to open the port 54. A second fixed contact 84 is disposed in such position as to be engaged by the other branch of the contact member 81 when the carriage is in this latter position. A wire the engineer fails to cordance with the danger signal so given.

same time,

85 leads from the binding post 82 to a battery 86, or other energy, and wires 87 and 88 lead from the other pole of the battery to contacts of light sockets, one of which carries a plain glass electric light bulb 89 and the other of which carries a red glass electric light bulb 90. Wires 91 and 92 lead from the other contacts of these light sockets to the contacts 83 and 84, respectively. Itwill, therefore, be seen that. when the contact member 81 engages the contact 83, .a circuit will be formed through the light bulb 89, which will give a white light, While when the contact member 81engages the contact 84, a circuit will be formed through the light bulb 90, which will give a red light. lights are commonly mounted upon a single supporting base 93 located at any convenient point in the cab, as shown in Fig. 1. It will of course be understood that bells of different tones or other suitable signaling devices may be used in place of the lights, if deemed advisable, .or both bells and lightsmay be employed.

In describing the operation of my invention, I will assume that a train equipped with my safety apparatus is approaching a pair of.spaced semaphores, the arms of which are set at danger position and that stop the train in ac- Under these conditions, as the train passes the first semaphore, one of the trip arms 14 will be engaged by the semaphore arm and the shaft 13 rocked to draw the actuating member 17 rearwardly. Because of the engagement of the pawls 29 with the rack teeth 24 and 25 of the actuating member, the carriage 26 will also be drawn rearwardly to the same extent. comes disengaged from the semaphore arm, the spring 22 will return the actuating member to normal position, the rack teeth 24 and 25 in no way preventing this return movement of the actuating member. At the the pawl 33 holds the carriage 26 against'return movement. This rearward movement of the carriage is sufficient to bring one of the branches of the movable contact 81 into engagement with the fixed contact 83 to close a circuit through the white light and also is sufficient to move the valve 52 to uncover theport 53, the port 54 still remaining closed. This opening of the port 53 permits air to pass from the train line through the pipe 58 into the cylinder and force its piston outwardly to swing the lever arm 68. ovement of this lever arm disengages the locking pawl of the throttle valve lever and swings the throttle valve lever to close the throttle valve. mere shutting of the throttle valve and lighting of the white signal light is not sufiicient to warn the engineer, the train, upon suitable source of electrical In practice, both 35 and g the stirrup 43,

spring 39 returns it to trip arm 14 is provided As soon as the trip 14 bepassing the further moved to. open the port 54. This opening of the port 54 permits venting of the train line directly to the atmosphere and thereby applies the air brakes of the train. The safety appliance may be reset either after merely after both will of course be clear that when the carriage has moved rearwardly to its full extent, the stop pin 45 is slightly spaced from the stirrup 43 carried by the resetting bar. Under these conditions, forward movement of the resetting bar will first bring its cam portions 46 and 47 into engagement with the terminals 32 of the pawls to swing them out of engagement with the ratchet teeth and will then, through engagement of the pin 45 by force the carriage forwardly until further movement is stopped by engagement of the pin 44 with the bracket 18.

As soon as the resetting bar is freed, its normal .position. It that inasmuch as a at each side of the cab and inasmuch as rocking of the shaft 13, in either direction, will cause rearward movement of the actuating member 17, the appliance will work irrespective of which side of the track the semaphore is located upon or of which direction the train is traveling.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new is:

1. In a safety appliance for trains, the combination with a train line and throttle valve, of a valve having a valve chamber in communication with the train line, said valve having a pair of ports, a valve proper mounted in the chamber and movable to open one or both of the ports, one of said ports communicating with the atmosphere, means operable by the opening of the other port for closing the throttle valve, and means actuatable by engagement with track obstacles for successively opening the ports.

will of course be clear a throttle valve and a train line, of a valve having two ports, means operable by opening of one of the ports for closing the throttle valve, means operable by opening of the second port for venting the train line, and means actuatable by engagement wiih successive track obsta cles for moving the valve to successively open the ports.

n a safety appliance for trains, the combination with a throttle valve and a train line, of a valve having two ports,

engagement with successive track obstacles for moving the valve to successively open the ports, and means for resetting such last mentioned means.

a. In a safety appliance for trains, the combination with means for closing a throttle Valve and a valve which is inactive in one position, which in another position operates the means for valve, and which in yet another position vents the train line, of means actuatable by engagement with track obstacles for successively moving the valve from its inactive to its other positions.

' train line,

5. In a safety appliance for trains, the combination with a valve which is inactive in one position, which in another position operates means for closing a throttle valve, and which in yet another position vents the train line, ofmeans actuatable by engagement with track obstacles for successively moving the valve from its inactive to its other positions, said means including a carriage operatively connected to the valve, a track obstacle actuated member reciprocally mounted, means co-acting between the carriage and said member, whereby movement of the member in one direction will move the carriage in a corresponding direction, while movement of the member in the reverse direction will not move the carriage, automatic means for returning the member to normal position, means for normally holding the carriage against return to normal position, and means for releasing said latter holding means.

6. In a safety appliance for trains, the combination with a valve which is inactive in one position, which in another position operates means for closing a throttle valve, and which in yet another position vents the of,means actuatable by engage ment with track obstacles for successively moving the valve from its inactive to its other positions, said means including a carriage operatively connected to the valve. a track obstacle actuated member reciprocally mounted, means co-acting between the carriage and said member, whereby movement of the member in one direction will move the carriage in a corresponding direction, while movement of the member in the L'BVBISB direction will not move the carriage, automatic means for returning the member to normal position, means for normally holding the carriage against return to normal osition, and means for releasing said latter holding means, said releasing means also serving to return the carriage to normal position after its release.

7 In a safety appliance for trains, the

closing the throttle operates means combination with a valve which is inactive in one position, in another operates means for closing a throttle valve, and in yet another position vents a train line, of a reciprocating carriage operatively connected to the valve and formed withrack teeth, a pawl engaging the rack teeth to normally prevent movement of the carriage in one direction, means for releasing the pawl and forcing the carriage in such direction, and track obstacle operated means for moving the carriage in the opposite direction.

8. In a safety appliance for trains, the combination with a valve which is inactive in one position, in another operates means for closing a throttle valve, and in yet another position vents a train line, of a reciprocating carriage operatively connected to the valve and formed with rack teeth, a pawl engaging the rack teeth to normally prevent movement of the carriage in one direction, means for releasing the pawl and forcing the carriage in such direction, and track obstacle operated means for moving the carriage in the opposite direction, said means including a rock shaft, obstacle engageable arms carried by ing member operatively connected to the rock shaft and having rack teeth, pawls carried by the carriage and engaging the rack teeth, and a spring normally tending to hold the actuating member in a certain predetermined position.

9. In a safety appliance for trains, the combination with a valve which is inactive in one position, for closing a throttle valve, and 1n yet another position vents a train line, of a reciprocating carriage operatively connected to the valve and formed with rack teeth, a pawl engaging the rack teeth to normally prevent movement of the carriage in one direction, means for releasing the pawl and forcing the carriage in such direction, track obstacle operated means for moving the carriage in the opposite direction, a plurality of signal devices, and means operable by movement of the carriage for successively rendering the signal devices active. such means being such that as one signal device is rendered active another is rendered inactive.

10. In a safety appliance for combination with a valve which in one position,

trains, the is inactive which in another position for closing a throttle valve, and which in yet another position vents the train line, of means actuatable by engagement with track obstacles for successively moving the valve from its inactive to its other positions, said means including a carriage operatively connected to the valve, a track obstacle actuated member reciprocally mounted,means co-acting between the carriage and said member, whereby movement of the member in one direction will move the carriage in the rock shaft, an actuatand being itself automatically returnab1e.10 to normal position.

In testimony wherof I afiix my signature in presence of two Witnesses.

JOHN J. DEGENHARDT. 1,. 5.

Witnesses:

R. A. CARTER, Roy S. GIrrIN. 

